Automatic highway-crossing-signal mechanism



Feb. 5, 1929.

l C. ADLER, JR

AUTOMATIC HIGHWAY CROSSING SIGNAL MECHANISM Filed Jan. 23, 1928 4 Sheets-#Sheet l llw Mmm KT MAQ 4 EN Amr g A @fr E Ivm Febo 5, A I C. ADLER, JR

AUTOMATIC HIGHWAY CROSSING SIGNAL MEGHANISM 4 sheets-sheet 2 Filed Jan. 23. 1928 Ed. s, 1929.

\ c@ ADLER, JR

vAUTOMATIC HIGHWAY CROSSING SIGNAL MECHANISM Filed Jan. 25, 19728 4' Sheets-Sheetv 4r Patented Feb. 'A5, 1929.

Aomran STATES CHARLES ADLER, JR., oF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

'AU'.roilA'rIc HIGHWAY-caossnre-SIGNAL nEcHAivIsu.

Appiiction mea January as, 1928. serial No. 248,334.v

This invention relates to an improved signal system for highway crossings and has for its main object to provide a system including a three position visual signal and a sound- 6 actuated element whereby a sound produced will cause thesignal means to change from stop to caution and after an interval again change from' caution toclear, thereby giving notice to traiic on one highway that the traiiic l on a cross-highway is to be given the right of way by producing thecaution signal and then setting the stop signal for the traiiic on` the main highway, and at the Sametime setting a clear signal for tratlic on the cross-highway.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein,

Fig. 1 shows the system4 diagrammatically with all parts in their normal position to give traiic on the main highway the right of way.

Fig. 2 illustrates the system diagrammatically with the parts in position to give a caution-signal on both the main and the crosshighways; Fig. 3 isl a similar view but with the parts 25 in position to give a stop signal on the main highway and a clear signal on the cross-highway.

Fig. 4 is a. similar View showing the time relay and pendulum'relay in a half-way posif 3 tion and about to restore the circuits and system to a normal condition with the main highway signal at clear.

Fig. 5 illustrates a form of lamp casing in perspective in order .that two adjoining sides'A $5 of the four sides thereof. maybe shown.

Fig. 6 shows a horizontal cross-sectional detail through the lamp-casing, and

Fig. shows a part of the ,pendulum-relay to illustrate how the pendulum when held 'v by the electro-magnet compresses acontact' spring whi h'serves to kick the pendulum off when the magnet is deenergized.

Referring to FigQl, of the drawing wherein the complete system is shown diagrammatically and in what I term its normal condition,-that is, with the signal, for the main' highway at clear (green) and the signal for the cross-highway at stop (red) ,-the numerals 9 and 10 designate the two lines for the supply and return of current from and to a source of electric current; 11, a vibrating relay; 12, a time-resetrelay; 13 a pendulum ltime relay and 14, a neutral o r signal-circuit relay.

'As the improved system is designed to control traic at highway intersections, the numeral 15 designates the main' highway and 16V the cross-highway.

At this highway intersection a signal-lamp casing 17, is preferably suspended thereover, i Aand this casing, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, hasl four sides or races 18, 19, 20 and 21, as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawing,-the opposite sides or faces 18 and 20 facing the main highway 15 and the other two opposite sides 19 and 21 65V facing the cross-highway 16.

Each face of the lamp-casing carries three lenses but the arrangement of the lenses in adjacent sides differ somewhat in that on the sides 18 and 20 facing the mainI highway the 70 lenses 22, 23 and 24`are arranged in a vertica row,.-the upper lens 22 being green; the in# termediate lens23 heingyellow and the lower lens 24 being red in color.

On the two opposite sides 19 and 21 which face the cross-highway 1 6, the green lens 22 is lowermost; the yellow lens- 23 is vintermediate and the red lens 24 'is uppermost.

In practice, there are three compartments in the signal case in different vertical planes and a lamp is located in each compartment so that if the lamp in the upper compartment is illuminated, it will illuminate both green lenses 22 facing the main-highway and both redlenses 24 which face the cross-highway, thereby producing aclear (green) signal for trahie on the main highway and a stop (red) signal for tralic on the cross-highway.

When the lamp inthe intermediate compartment is illuminated, it Will illuminate four caution (yellow) lenses23 on all four sides of the lamp-casing to warn traffic on. both highways that a change in signals is about to take place.

` When the lamp ".in the lower compartment is illuminated, it will illilminate the two lower green lenses 22 facingthe cross-highway and the two red lenses 24 facing the main highway, thereby stoppingtraitic on the main highway and giving the right of way to traffic on the cross-highway. l

-Signal lamps of this kind are now in use i but as far as I am aware, they are either actuated or controlled manually or are operatedat predetermined o r fixed intervals if time,

whggeas in accordance with my invention, I

propose to actuate thesign'als/only when traffic on the cross-highway 16 is present or adjacent to the main highway, and then only, after a caution signalhas rst been'given the traffic on both highways. 'In further carrying out my invention, I

lio

open end of each case will face in a direction away from the main-highway. Thus, in practice, the vibrator will be located on the cross-highway at one side of the main-highway so as to be actuated as vehicles are approaching the main highway while the vibrator 26 will be located on the cross-highway at the opposite side 'of the main highway.

The vibrators which I have used in actual operation are substantially like the transmitters of telephones with diaphragms thereon and as there is nothing novel in the struc-v ture, I deem it unnecessary to illustrate the same in detail.

The vibrating relay 11, which I have used in practice, consists of a permanent horseshoe magnet 27 enclosed by the coils of 'an electro-magnet 28. A thin metal diaphra 29 serves as an armature or vibrator and t iis d1sk has a central contact polnt 3()l on its under side.

The vibrator disk is sustained around its periphery by suitable brackets 31, which latter however permit the disk to vibrate.

Beneath the vibrating-disk 29 the casing lot' the relay 11 carries a contact-post 32 and I a lever 33. is pivotally carried by this post so as to normally extend horizontally beneath the vibrating-disk.

This lever 33 is provided with a central l .contact 34 and also basan adjustable count.-

ter-balance weight 35, so the lever may be balanced wit-h lts contact 34 pressing upwardly against the contactJ 30 on the bottom of the vibrator-disk.

In practice, the vibrations of the disk'29, set up sufficient vibration in the lever 33 to cause the contacts 34 and 30 to separatev intermittently and to momentarily interrupt -the passage of current through those points, as will presently more fully appear.

y The time reset relay 12, is merely shown diagralnmatically but may be of any of the well-known structures which, when itsarmatures are dropped, will set in motion a motor which must operate through a cycle or vpredetermined time before itv .will reset those armatures.

ent 1,638,793 grantedy to me August 9th, 1927.

In 'the present disclosure, however, the time-reset relay is shown with an electromagnet 36 and three-armatures 37, 38 and 39, allcontrolled or held up by said magnet.

These armatures 37, l38 and 39 are presumed, in this instance, to have their pivoteuds enter the 'casing 12, where the time actuating mechanism therein will, upon the dropping of the armatures, begln a cycle of operation which consumes a predetermined period of time, and as this cycle of operation is completed, the armatures will be restored so that the magnet 36, which has again become energized, may hold the lifted armatures up.

Associated with the armature 37 is aback contact 40 which has a connection 41 to the current-supply binding-post 42 of the timeactuating mechanism within the case 12.

The armature 38 coacts with a front contact 43 whenheld up and engages aback contact 44 when dropped, and armature 39, when up, engages a front contact 45, and when down, engages aback contact 46.

- The time-reset relay 12 also has a bindingpost' 47, to which a return or ground-wire 48 is connected.v

The pendulum-relay 13 also has a time element feature to it in that it employs an electro-magnet 49 with which a swinging pendulum-bar 50 coacts,-.the pendulum-bar being balanced by, means of an adjustable weight 51 on its upper end above the pivotconne'ction with the bracket-bars 52.

This pendulum-bar carries -a thin springplate 53 at one sidewhich serves as a contact-plate and which is compressed against a stationary contact-plate 54, when-the magnet 49 draws the lower free en d of the pendulumbar against its core, so that when the magnet is momentarily deenergized, the spring-.plate 53AV will drive the-pendulum away from the magnet and swing it well over to the right. The pendulum-bar 50 is so nicely balanced that its swinging movement, first away fromy the magnet 49 and then back again is retarded or slow. y

The pendulum-relay 13 is controlled through the time-reset relay and its. magnet 49 is deenergized and the pendulum swung,

'each time the armature 38 of the time-reset' relay 12, moves between the front and back contacts 43 and 4'4, as will presently be more fully explained.Y f

The neutral or signal-circuit relay 14, is controlled and .actuated each time the pendul 11n-relay is operated, and-this neutral relay has an electro-magnet 55, and three armatures 56, 57`and 58 respectively.

In addition to the mechanisms hel-einbeiore described, I'also make use of a battery j 59 in the signal system, which battery sup- -Such a structure is disclosed 1n U. S. Patplies the necessary current for the vibrators 25 and 26; an induced current for the vibrator 11; current for the time-reset relay 12; current for the pendulum-relay 13 and the current utilized by the neutral or signalcircuit relay.

The current however which is utilized by the signal lamps in the highway signal lamp casing 17 is supplied from the A..C. supply Induced current circuit for vibrating relay.

1ines'9 and 10 but is controlled through armaturesof the time-reset. relay 12 and the neutral or signal-circuit relay 14.

Circuit between battery and highway ciratOrs.

From battery 59, there is a wire or line 60, 61 which leads to and connects with the highway vibrator 26, with a branch line 62 which connects highway vibrator 25.

From highway vibrator 26, there isa return line 63, which returns to the battery and is shown connected to the ground wire 64 of the battery. v l

A branch `return line v65, from highway vibrator 25, is also provided which return branch is connected'tothe return line 63.-

]t will thus be seen that the highway vibrators are directly connected up with the battery 59.

The vibrating relay 11, has aloop line 6.6, 67 in which an induced vibrating current 1s set up through the coils 68 and 69 between the loop and the line 61 between the battery and the highway vibrators so that the disk or diaphragm 29 of the vibrating relay will vibrate as the result of the impulses received at the electro-magnet 28.

. The vibrations of this diaphragm or disk 29 cause the contacts 30 and 34 to vibrate,

, and in fact in practice this vibration at these contacts is very fast so that the. contacts be\ tween the points v30 and 34, lis made and broken numerous times while the highway vibrators 25 or 26 are operating.

`Normally, a circuit is maintained from the battery to thevibrating-relay disk 29; then through the contacts 30 and 34 to maintain the time-reset relay so that any interruption of that circuit by the vibration of said contacts 30 and 34 will affect the time-reset relay.

Oircuit to controltivne-reset relay. Y The time-.reset relay 12 is controlledby current from battery 59, through the disk 2.9

of the vibrating relay 11, and when said disk' is at rest, a circuit is maintained as followsz' From battery 59 by wires 60, and 70 to the disk 29; then through contacts 30 and 34 to j and throughlever 33; thenby contact post Oireuit to control pendulum time relay. The pendulumV time relay-13, is also maintained by current from battery 59 but is cont-rolled by armature 38 of the time-reset relay and the front and back contacts 43 and 44 of said armature. 4

The electro-magnet 49 of the pendulum-relay is deenergized only while the armature 38 v From battery 59 by wires 60 and 70 tobranch wire 73; then by either front or back contacts 43 or 44,t0 armature 38; then by wire 74 and branch'75 to pendulum-relay magnet 49 and return by grounds 76 and 64 tothe bat-tery.

Obviously, if armature 38 is out .of engagement with both its front and back cont-acts 43 and 44, current from the battery cannot pass to the pendulum-relay magnet 49 and p the latter at that moment will be deenergized.

- Circuit for neutral 0r signal-circuit relay.

The neutral or signal-circuit relay 14. and its magnet is controlled through the pendulum-bar 50 ofthe pendulum-relay 13 and' is energized as long as the Contact 53 on the pendulum-bar is in engagement with the' stationary contact 54. This means that magnet 49 of the pendulum-relay must be energized,

.and while and, as long as it is energized, the

magnet 55 of the neutral or Signal-circuit relay will be energized. n

The circuit therefore for'maintaining the neutral relay from the battery is the same which maintains magnet 49up lto and including-wire 74 but is then continued by brackets 52, pendulum-bar 50, contacts 53 and 54; then by wire 77 to neutral relay magnet 55 and by ground connections 7 8 and 64 back to the battery.

I Uircuit` for operating time-relay resetting mechanism.

The time-relay resetting mechanism is los normally idle because its function is merely to pick up and restore the armatures 37, 38'

and 39 after they have been dropped by the deenergzation of electro-magnet 36, .but to -do so only after a predetermined vtime-limit.

The electro-magnet 36 will be deenergized by the vibrations set up at the disk 29 and as soon as that disk ceases to vibrate, the timereset relay will again become energized but the armatures 37, 38 and 39 will have dropped beyond lthe inluence'of the magnet to again v pick them up until the resetting mechanism in case 12 lifts them. v y The circuit therefore from the battery 59 isp Highway lamp circuits.

In the diagrammatic views of Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 three lenses 22, 23 and 24 are shown and these lenses are presumed to be those which control trailic on the cross-highway 16,-,the lower lens 22 being red; the inter-i v mediate lens 23 being yellow. and the upper lens 24 being red.

As has hereinbefore been explained, when the green lens for the cross-highway is illuminated, a red lens (on the opposite ,rightangle sidesl of the lamp case) for the mainhighway will be illuminated.

l/Vhen a Ired lens 22 for the cross-highway is illuminated, a green lens for the main-highway will be illuminated, and when the signal is about to be changed from stop on the one and clear or go on the other highway, yellow lenses 23 on the all four sides of the lamp will be illuminated.

When, therefore, the color of the lens illuminated is herein referred to as green or red this is to be taken as meaning the lens which controls the traflic on the cross-highway, it being understood that an opposite condition prevails for the signal on the main highway, but in all cases where a yellow light is displayed, this color is shown on both highways' because -it indicates a change is about to be made in the signals. f

The signal circuits are all controlled through the armatures 56, 57 or 58 of the neutral or signal-circuit relay 14 and the connectionsbetween these armatures and the several lamps will now be briey eXplained Normal 1.47@ leas vsignall circuit for crosshighway.

From the lamp in the (cross-highway) red lens-compartment 22, there is a wire 80 which leads to a front contact 81, with which armature 57 of the'neutral or signal circuit'relay 14 normally engages while ,from that armature 57, there is a 'wire 82 which extends back to front contact 45, of armature 39 of the time 'reset relay. A wire 83, then extends from the armature 39 and connects `with the main line 9 of the main current supply (110 V. A. 0.). I f Thus current isV taken from the main line 9; passed through armature 39 of time relay 12, then by wire 82 lto and through armature 57 of neutral or signal circuit relay; then b wire 80 to lamp 22 which normally illumi- -circuits takes nates the red stop lens 22 for the cross-higher! not only illuminate said red lens but will also l illuminate the two green lenses for the mam highway.

The circuitslto the lamps for the yellow and green cross-highway lenses are normally broken, the yellowh lamp circuit being interrupted at armature 58 while the green lamp circuit for the cross-highway is interrupted at the back contact 46 of armature 39 of the time reset relay 12.

Under normal operating conditions, the red lenses 22 for the cross-highway 16 are illuminated.l while a the same time the green lenses 24 for the main highway 15 are Ailluminated Aso that the main highway traiic has the the right of way normally. l

Under these conditions three complete circuits are provided,-one for the lamp circuit just above described from lin e 9 as shown by Athe darts lin Fig. 1, and another from the battery 59 through` armature 38 of time reset relay so as to keep the pendulum relayand the neutral relay energized. f This latter battery circuit is also shown by darts from the battery by wires 60, 70, 73, 74, 75 and 77 in Fig. 1, and a third circuit from the battery through the disk 29 of vibrating relay 11, and contacts 30 and 34 and wire 71 to time reset relay 12. This circuitalso being shown by darts in Fig. 1.

Uaution circuits for both highways.

Presuming now that-a vehicle on the cross'- highway 16, desires to cross or enter the main highway and therefore sounds a horn.

The sound of the horn will] set up vibrations of a diaphragm in one of the highway vibrators 25 or 26, which vibrations will immediately be transmitted b impulses in the current at the vibratin re ay 11, Immediately this takes place, t e lever33 of` -vibrating relay will move sufliciently t0 separa-te contacts 30 and 34, and a change in all the y place, as is shown in Fig. 2 of the drawing.

This change of. contacts 30, 34 causes relay magnet 36 of time reset' relay to become deenergized and drop its armatures and while armature 38 thereof is dropping the magnet 49 of pendulum-relay 13 is momentarily deenergized and pendulum-bar 50 swings away `so as to cut ,0E current to neutral or'signal circuit magnet 55. e

When the neutral rela 14 is thus deenergized, its armatures 56,A 7 and 58 will drop,

' cross-highway.

And in doing so, armature 58 will engage a Yack contact 86, and will remain in,engage ment with that contact until pendulum-bar 50, returns to and `is held by magnet 49 of the endulum-relay.

erefore, while pendulum-bar is. lswinging away from and then returning to the magnet 49, (which is a slow movement because yof the delicate balance of the bar) the neutral relay magnet remains deenergized and armature 58 thereof maintains en' gagement with back contact 8.6, as shown in t this moment, the caution or yellow lenses 23 will be illuminated for both the main and cross-highways and the lamp circuit will then be as shown in Fig. 2 as follows:

From main line 9 by wire 83 and branch wire 87 to armature 58 of neutral relay, then through contact 86 and wire 88 to lamp which illuminates all four yellow lenses 23 and return by common ground connections 84 and 85.

While the yellow lenses are illuminated, and pendulum-bar 50 is still away from magnet 49, a circuit is at once formed -through the time reset relay-mechanism to start the latter'through its cycle of o eration.

This circuit,'as shown in ig. 2, is as follows:

From battery 59, by wires 60, and 79 to armature 37 and back-contact 40 and wire 41 to post-42 to start the reset mechanism and return by ground connections 48 and 64 to battery.

While this isgoing on however, and before the time reset relay actually picks up its armatures 37, -38 and 39, a change takes place in the signals, from yellow to green for the This change from yellow to green for the cross-highway and from yellow to red for the main hlghway is brought about when the pendulum-bar. 50 returns to the pendulumrelay magnet 49, but the time-relay armas tures 37, 38 and 39 are still'down, so that a yellow light is being displayed.

Pendulum-relay magnet 49 must be yenergized when-pendulum-bar 5() returns thereto", and in fact is energized as soon as armature 38 engages its back contact 44. In Vother words, pendulum relay magnet 49 is .only deenergized while armature 38 is dropping from'its front Contact 43 to its back contact 44, but this time interval is sufficient to pcrmit pendulum relay-magnet 49 to become deenergized and release the pendulum-bar.

Then as soonas time relay armature 38 engages its back contact 44, pendulum-relay magnet 49 will again `be energiaed, although ythe pendulum-'bar 50 is still awayy from the magnet. I l

This circuit is also shown in Fig. 2, as fol-4 lows:

two points in this operation.

From battery 59, by wires 60, 70, 73 and backecontact 44 to and through armature 38 then bywires 74 and 75 to pendulum-relay magnet 49 to energize the latter and return by ground connect1ons'76 and 64 to battery.

The yellow light will thus be displayed until pendulum-bar 50returns'to its holding magnet 49 and then the signal circuit will be shifted to display a green (clear) signal for `the cross-highway and a red (stop) signal for the main-highway.

This change from yellow to green for the cross-,highway is brought about by the neutral relay 14 picking up its armatures while the armatures 37, 38 and 39 of the time-reset relay are still down, although the time reset mechanism is going throughits operation.

This change to a green signal for the crosshighway is shown 1n Fig. v3 to which attention is now directed. y

The pendulum-bar 50, has nowreturned to and is held by. magnet 49 and its contact plate 53, closes a circuit from the line 74 through contact 54 and -wire 77 to and through neutral magnet 55 which now has picked up its armatures 56, 57 and 58 and in picking up armature 58 has cut out the cir-c cuit through wire 88 to the yellow caution` signal and at the same time closed another circuit through its armature 56 to the green lens 24-of'the cross-highway 1 6 and the red lens of the main highway.

This circuit (green for cross-highway) is from the main current supply as follows From line 9 by wire 83 to armature 39 of. time-reset relay 12, which is still down, its

back contact 46,-wire 89 to armature 56 of 'neutral relay 14 which is now up; through The circuits again change to display yel? .low signals on both 'highways as shown in Fig. 4. which latter shows 'the armatures partly but sufficiently raised for the time re set relay magnet 36, to pick them up land Fig. 4 therefore shows the parts between the As soon as armature 39 is lifted from its back contact 46 the circuit to the` green cross-- highway signal will be broken, and as soon as armature 38 is lifted from its back-contact 44, pendulum relay-magnet 49 will-again be deenergized and 'pendulum-bar 50 will again swing away and separate the contacts 53 and 54, thereby interrupting the circuit through wire 77 to neutral relay magnet 55.

When neutral relay magnet 55 is again deenergized its armatures 56, 57 and 58 will drop and armature 58 will again engage contact^86 and close the light circuit from line 9 through wires 83 and 87 to and through armature 58 and wire 88 to the yellow lamp, thereby again giving a yellow caution signal on both cross and main-highways.

This light condition remains although time reset relay fully and immediately picks up because the yellow light circuit will not be interrupted until neutral relay magnet 55 becomes energized and this cannot take place until pendulum-bar 50 swings back and is held by magnet 49 so asto close cont-acts 53 and 54.

The pendulum-relay therefore serves to hold the circuit to the neutral relay 14 open and -to determine the length of time that the yellow signal will be given, either when the signal changes from green to yellow to red, or red to yellow to green.

Upon return of the pendulum-relay after the parts are in the positions shown in Fig. 4, the neutral relay 14 will pick up its armatures and the entire apparatus will be restored to the normal condition shown in Fig. 1 with the cross highway signal 24`red and the main highway signal green.

Having described my invention, I claim,-

1. In an automatic signal mechanism for highway intersections the combination with a visual signal means at the intersection to provide a normal clear signal for a main highway while showing a normal stop signal for an intersecting cross-highway, to also provide for simultaneous caution signals for both highways and to further provide for a time limit stop signal for the main highway while giving a time limit clear signal for the crosshighway, of a current supply for the signal mechanism, signal-circuit switches connected to the signal mechanism to control the current to said signal mechanism, and means connecting the signal circuit switches with the signal current-supply, a sound-operated element adjacent to the cross-highway, translating means actuated by the sound operated element, timing means,said timing means being set in operation through the said translating means, means responsive to the timing means for operating the signal circuit switches to progressively change the signals on each highway from normal to caution to the opposite from normal for a limited period of time and then back to caution and again to normal and hold the latter in the normal condition again for an indefinite period of time.

2. In an automatic signal mechanism for highway intersections the combination with visual slgnal means at the intersection to provide a clear signal for a main highway while showing a stop vsignal for the intersecting cross-highway, to provide for simultaneous caution signals for both highways and to proated element and the time reset relay for operating the latter upon the actuation of the sound element,-said time reset relay having means through which the signal c ircuit relay is controlled, and means operating between the time reset relay and the signal circuit relay to cause the latter to change the signals progressively first, from clear and stop for the main and cross-highways respectively to caution signals for both highways, second to again change the circuits to produce a stop signal for the main and a clear signal for the cross highways, third vto again change the circuits to produce a caution signal for both highways and fourth to again change" the circuits to produce a clear signal for the main and a stop signal for the crosshighways.

3. In an automatic signal mechanism for highway intersections the combination lwith visual signal means at the intersection to provide clear, caution and stop indications for a main-highway and stop, caution and clear indications for an intersecting crosshighway, a signal current-supply, signalcircuit control devices to control the signal means, a sound-operated element adjacent to the cross-highway, means for actuating the said control devices at time intervals to change each set of signals progressively through its several indications and back to f normal and meansV actuated by the soundoperated element to startthe time interval means through a cycle of operations.

4. In an automatic highway crossing signal mechanism the combination with a visual signal means to simultaneously provide a clear signal for a main highway and a stop signal for a cross-highway and tosimultaneously provide a stop signal for the main highway and a. clear signal for the cross-highway, of a. current-supply for the signal mechanism, signal-circuit switch devices and connections forming a normal circuit through which the current from the current-supply is led to the signal mechanism to produce a normal clear signal for the main and a normal stop signal for the intersecting highway, means including a timing mechanism which when operated will move the signal-circuit switchdevices in such an order as to cause them to shift the current and change the signals from clear and stop indication for the main and cross-highways respectively to stop and clear for .said highways, and `after a delay restore the circuits to theirl normal con ition, a

v sound-actuated element on one of said highways and means operated by the sound-actuate'd element for effecting an operation of the means which irst moves the said switch devices.

5. In an automatic highway crossing-signal mechanism the combination with avisual sigerations to progressively change the signals vat predetermined time intervals and restore them to a normal condition and means operated by thesound-actuated element to start the timing means on a cycle of operation.

6. In an automatic signal mechanism for highway intersections the combination with a visuali-signal mechanism at the intersection normally to provide a-.clear indication for a" main highway while giving a stop indication for an intersecting highway and another norvmally inactivesignal to provide a stop indi'- cation for a main highway while glving a clear indication for the intersecting highway, of a signal current supply, a signal circuit switch for each signal,'circuit connections between the signal circuit supply and signal 'circuit switches, circuit connections between the signal4 circuit switches and thev 'signal mechanism, a sound-operated element on the intersecting highway, a translating-means actuated by the sound-operated element and timing means ontrolled by the translating means lfor actuating the signal-circuit switches to energize the normally inactlve signal and deenergize the normally active signal for a predetermined time.

7. In an automatic signal mechanismjfor highway intersections the combination with a visual Signal mechanism at the intersection to provide'a clear signal for a main highway while giving a stop signal for an intersecting highway and to provide a stop signal for a main highway while giving a clear signal -or the intersecting highway, of a signal current supply, normally stationary signal circuit switches with connections to the signal mechanism and connections leading to the signal-current supply, timing means which is normally inactlve to leave the signal clrcuit switches in a. condition to give a clear signal for the main highway and a stop signal for the cross highway, a sound operated element on the cross-highway, and a translating means between the sound-operated element andthe timing means to set the latter in motion and operate the switches in a predetermined order when the sound-operated element is actuated.

8. In an automatic signal mechanism for highway intersections the combination with visual signal mechanism at the intersection to provide successively clear, caution and stop indications for a main highway and stop, caution and clear indications for the ntersecting highway, of a signal current supply, signal circuit control devices with connections' to the signal means, a sound-operated element on the intersecting highway, a translating means actuated by the sound-operated element, a timing means operated by the translating means, 'a pendulum relay controlled through the timing means and 1n turn controlling the signal circuit control devices and connections from the current supplyto the signal circuit control means.

In testimony whereof I aix my signature.

' CHARLES ADLER, JR. 

